SOUTH BEND Â? At a court hearing this morning, a judge said he would not allow media coverage of an arson case to interfere with his sentencing decision of 19-year-old William Glover.

"ThereÂ?s been a lot of publicity" of the case, Judge John M. Marnocha said, "but IÂ?m not going to be ... bullied into" a different decision.

Marnocha emphasized the seriousness of the crime Glover pleaded guilty to Â? arson, a Class B felony. He said he disagreed with others, including Glover and two co-defendants, who perceived it as a prank.

"A prank is a mischievous or practical joke," Marnocha said.

"I donÂ?t see this as a prank," he continued, referring to a fire that caused minimal damage to an apartment complex but endangered the lives of residents inside. "ItÂ?s not like unscrewing a salt shaker at a restaurant ... or TP-ing somebodyÂ?s house."

Marnocha sentenced Glover to eight years in prison for the crime.

But the controversy in the case was rooted in the difference in punishment meted to co-defendants Justin Brooks and David Opfer, who pleaded to the same crime as Glover under similar circumstances. None of them had a criminal background.

Like Glover, Marnocha sentenced Brooks to serve eight years in prison. But a different judge, Jerome Frese, gave Opfer no prison time, ordering him instead to be placed in a work-release program.

Marnocha, who is the Chief Judge of St. Joseph Superior Court, said the court would adopt a new case management system in the future that would assign co-defendants to the same judge, ensuring consistency in sentencing.

Some community residents, including members of the Martin Luther King Senior MenÂ?s Club in South Bend, asked for an explanation of the wide gap in sentencing, and suggested that racial discrimination may be involved. Brooks is biracial Â? his father is black Â? while Opfer is white.

Marnocha this morning elaborated on his reasoning.

"You know, I have the same feeling about you that I had with Mr. Brooks," Marnocha began telling Glover. "And that is there is a disconnect between who you are and who he is and what you did and what he did."

Marnocha told Glover that he seemed to be a young man with "plans," "intelligent," "nice" and with no criminal history.

But, the judge said, "it really sticks in my mind that you, to this day, view this as some sort of stupid mistake ... that you were involved in a prank.

"You went to an occupied apartment building, and you knew it was occupied," the judge said. "You went there at night, and you knew it was night. And you lit a fire.

"Fortunately, in that situation it got put out quickly, but if it had not ... then somebody could have been killed.

"Looking at what you said to me in your statement, I see that you donÂ?t get it, you just donÂ?t get it."

Marnocha also wondered why Indiana law allows for suspended sentences in serious crimes, like arson.

"ItÂ?s beyond me," he said.

A woman, who later identified herself as BrooksÂ? mother, stood up after the hearing and shouted at the judge, "The day of judgment will come."

After a security guard kept her from leaving the courtroom, she stood in front of Marnocha, who warned her against such outbursts.